Georgetown accepted 13 percent of its early action applicants to the Class of 2020 this past week, an acceptance rate consistent with that of the last several years.

The university mailed acceptance letters to 892 of a record-high 7,027 applicants Friday, marking an early action acceptance rate equal to the 13 percent for the Class of 2019.

“In my opinion this has been the most diverse and the most talented pool we’ve seen,” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon said.

About one-third of the expected 20,000 total applicants for the Class of 2020 applied early action. Georgetown expects to offer admission to about 3,200 students to complete a class of 1,600, according to Deacon.

Deacon emphasized that the university aims to keep the acceptance rate for early action below that of regular decision, as the early action pool generally comprises more privileged students.

“We don’t want to over-admit early, because the early pool tends to be slightly more advantaged. We want to give everybody a fair chance and are also looking for diversity,” Deacon said.

The admissions committee accepted applicants from 48 states and 38 foreign countries. Nine percent of admitted students are African-American, 10 percent are Hispanic, 14 percent are Asian-American and 1 percent is American Indian. Seven percent of international students were offered admission.

Deacon highlighted the ongoing trend of increased diversity in the early action pool and said that this pattern is projected to continue in the coming years.

“Every year it’s getting slightly more diverse, and looking down the pipeline, even more change is coming,” Deacon said. “Historically, a declining majority of the applicant pool has been white students every year. That’s getting down close to 50-50. If you were to go back 20 years, it would be 75 to 80 percent. As the pool is going down in white students it’s going up in other students, so the diversity is continuing to increase.”

Deacon also said the university’s continued use of an application separate from the Common Application has led to a smaller applicant pool, from which the admissions office is able to draw information about students in a more individualized way.

“By not accepting the Common Application, we actually get a pool of students we know more about, when they answer our questions,” Deacon said. “Our pool of 20,000 could be a lot larger if we did [accept the Common Application] but we wouldn’t know as much about them, and we might accept different people.”

The Walsh School of Foreign Service admitted 207 of 1,434 applicants, an acceptance rate of 14 percent. The other three undergraduate schools each welcomed 12 percent of applicants. Georgetown College accepted 481 of 3,917 students, the McDonough School of Business admitted 143 of 1,178 and the School of Nursing and Health Studies accepted 61 of 498.

The average admitted student was in the top 2 percent of his class, with average SAT scores of 690-780 and 700-770 in critical reading and math, respectively.

Deacon emphasized the positive components of this year’s early action pool, particularly focusing on increasingly exceptional applicants and growing diversity.

“We’re getting an ever-increasing share of the high-ability schools, at the same time as diversity. It’s a nice combination for Georgetown,” Deacon said.

Early action applicants that were not accepted are deferred to the regular decision pool and will receive notification of final decisions April 1. All accepted students will have until May 1 to commit to the Class of 2020.

Clarence Benjamin Jones, the speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, visited Georgetown on

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Panelists discussed the political future of Latin America at a student-organized conference in the HFSC on Friday.

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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (CAS ’57) delivered a guest lecture for 360 first-year law students in the Hart Auditorium at the Georgetown University Law Center’s McDonough Hall on Monday. He discussed his career, infamous dissents and originalist viewpoints.

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Graduate student goalkeeper Emma Newins played in her fourth consecutive NCAA tournament.

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Junior forward Grace Damaska scored the goal that tied the game and forced overtime in Georgetown’s loss to Hofstra in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

ELIZA MINEAUX FOR THE HOYA
Senior forward Brandon Allen was awarded the Big East tournament’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player honor following the Hoyas’ 2-1 victory over Creighton in the championship match.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, addressed a Gaston Hall audience that could not accommodate all who started lining up before 6 a.m. Thursday.

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Scott Dikkers, founding editor and former editor-in-chief of The Onion, spoke to more than 300 students in the ICC Auditorium on Monday.

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The Mind-Body Medicine Program, which launched 13 years ago in the Georgetown University Medical Center, has expanded to undergraduates over the past few years, catering students in the School of Nursing and Health Studies and the School of Foreign Service who experience stress.

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All 95 Coca-Cola vending machines on the main campus and law center have been upgraded to be compatible with payments by credit card, Apple Pay or Google Wallet in addition to payments by cash and GoCard.